Israel Votes 2026

20 days to Election Day, Tuesday, October 27

Forming the next government

Who governs until a new government is sworn in

The coalition's seats after each change, against the 61 needed for a majority
6065707580202320242025202661, a majority6476726468686161Knesset dissolvedJul 17, 2026Election day607080’23’24’25’26616476726468686161DissolvedJul 17, 2026Vote

Grey after the dissolution: the coalition governs on as a transitional government. The band is a change the reports give as 62 or 63 seats.

Netanyahu's government keeps serving until a new one is sworn in, as a transitional government. The law sets no limit on its powers, but the courts and the Attorney General expect restraint. As of May 2026, UTJ was outside the coalition and Shas, holding no ministries, kept supporting it in the Knesset. Israel Democracy Institute, May 12, 2026; Times of Israel, May 12, 2026.

  1. 64

    Netanyahu's government of Likud, Shas, the Religious Zionist Party, UTJ, Otzma Yehudit and Noam is sworn in with 64 seats. The Knesset approves it 63 to 54.

    Times of Israel, Dec 29, 2022

  2. 76

    Four days after the Hamas-led attack, Benny Gantz's National Unity agrees to join an emergency government for the war.

    Times of Israel, Oct 11, 2023

  3. 72

    Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope, which had split from National Unity, quits the coalition after Netanyahu does not appoint him to the war cabinet.

    Times of Israel, Mar 25, 2024

  4. 64

    Gantz quits the emergency government and calls for elections.

    Times of Israel, Jun 9, 2024

  5. 68

    New Hope rejoins the government.

    Times of Israel, Sep 30, 2024

  6. 62 or 63

    Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit quits the coalition in protest at the Gaza ceasefire deal.

    Times of Israel, Jan 19, 2025

  7. 68

    Otzma Yehudit returns after the war in Gaza resumes, and Ben-Gvir is reappointed police minister.

    Times of Israel, Mar 20, 2025

  8. 61

    UTJ quits the government and the coalition in protest at the draft bill for Haredi men.

    Times of Israel, Jul 15, 2025

  9. 61

    Shas quits the government over the same bill, but stays in the coalition and says it will not vote to bring the government down.

    Haaretz, Jul 16, 2025

  10. The Knesset dissolves itself 62 to 0 and sets the election for October 27.

    Ynet, Jul 17, 2026

The number beside each step is the coalition's seats after it. Seats after each step count the parties formally in the coalition, as the reports cited give them or as follows from their counts.

The 64 seats of Dec 29, 2022 were held by Likud, Otzma Yehudit, Religious Zionism–Zehut, Shas, UTJ, as those parties run now. See what they poll at today in the Coalition Builder. Noam, Avi Maoz's one-seat party, was the 2022 government's sixth member. Maoz resigned as a deputy minister in March 2025. No poll reports a figure for Noam, so the Coalition Builder leaves it out. Times of Israel, Mar 24, 2025.

The clock on the next one

20 days to the vote. The clock below has no calendar dates until the committee publishes the official results; each step shows the limit the law sets instead.

The longest path the law allows, in days from the official results
  1. 4The president picks a first nomineeFrom day 0 to day 7
  2. 5First nominee's 28 daysFrom day 7 to day 35
  3. 6Up to 14 more, if the president extendsFrom day 35 to day 49
  4. 7A second nominee, if neededFrom day 49 to day 52
  5. 8Second nominee's 28 daysFrom day 52 to day 80
  6. 961 members may name someoneFrom day 80 to day 101
  7. 10The president assigns their choiceFrom day 101 to day 103
  8. 11That member's 14 daysFrom day 103 to day 117
  9. 12A government can be sworn in at any pointFrom day 0 to day 124

Black bars are a nominee's time to build a coalition; grey bars are the president's or the Knesset's turn; the open bar is the extension, which the president may grant or refuse. The axis gets calendar dates once the Central Elections Committee publishes the official results, expected about a week after election day.

The clock starts when the Central Elections Committee publishes the official results. If every period in Basic Law: The Government runs out in full, the law allows at most 117 days from then before the Knesset is deemed dissolved and a new election is called. From election day to a sworn-in government has taken between 20 and 100 days, and in the past two decades no government has been sworn in less than 50 days after the vote. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, whose lives the next government's decisions will shape, have no vote in choosing it.

Checked Oct 5, 2026. Time limits from Basic Law: The Government, arts. 7 to 13.

  1. 1

    Election day

    The Knesset dissolved itself by 62 votes to none, setting the election for October 27.

    Ynet, 2026-07-17

  2. 2

    Official results published

    The Central Elections Committee publishes the official results after the count; Basic Law: The Government sets no date for that step. Every later date on this clock is counted from the day of publication, so calendar dates are filled in once that day is known.

    The president's seven days to assign the task run from the publication of the election results (art. 7(a)).

    Basic Law: The Government, art. 7 (Constitute Project translation), 2013

  3. 3

    The president consults the incoming lists

    The law sets no separate deadline; the consultations come before the task is assigned, at most 7 days after the official results.

    Before the new Knesset convenes, the president consults the representatives of the lists of candidates that will be represented in it (art. 7(b)).

    President Isaac Herzog

    Basic Law: The Government, art. 7 (Constitute Project translation), 2013

  4. 4

    First nominee given the task

    At the latest: official results + 7 days. The law gives the president no rule for choosing.

    The president assigns the task of forming a government to a Knesset member who has agreed to take it on, within seven days of the publication of the election results (art. 7(a)).

    President Isaac Herzog

    Basic Law: The Government, art. 7 (Constitute Project translation), 2013

  5. 5

    First nominee's 28 days end

    At the latest: official results + 35 days, if the task is assigned on the last permitted day.

    The member given the task has 28 days to form a government (art. 8).

    Basic Law: The Government, art. 8 (Constitute Project translation), 2013

  6. 6

    Extension of up to 14 days ends

    At the latest: official results + 49 days. The extension is at the president's discretion.

    The president may extend the period by additional periods of no more than 14 days in all (art. 8).

    President Isaac Herzog

    Basic Law: The Government, art. 8 (Constitute Project translation), 2013

  7. 7

    Second nominee, if needed

    At the latest: official results + 52 days. The president may consult the factions again first (art. 9(b)).

    If the first nominee fails, the president has three days to give the task to another member or to tell the Speaker no government can be formed (art. 9(a)).

    President Isaac Herzog

    Basic Law: The Government, art. 9 (Constitute Project translation), 2013

  8. 8

    Second nominee's 28 days end

    At the latest: official results + 80 days.

    A member given the task under article 9 has 28 days, which cannot be extended (art. 9(c)).

    Basic Law: The Government, art. 9 (Constitute Project translation), 2013

  9. 9

    The Knesset's 21 days to name a member

    At the latest: official results + 101 days. The 21 days run from the end of the second nominee's period, or from the president's statement that no government can be formed.

    A majority of the Knesset's members may ask the president in writing, within 21 days, to give the task to a member who has agreed in writing (art. 10(a)).

    61 Knesset members

    Basic Law: The Government, art. 10 (Constitute Project translation), 2013

  10. 10

    The Knesset's choice given the task

    At the latest: official results + 103 days.

    Once such a request is submitted, the president assigns the task to that member within two days (art. 10(b)).

    President Isaac Herzog

    Basic Law: The Government, art. 10 (Constitute Project translation), 2013

  11. 11

    That member's 14 days end

    At the latest: official results + 117 days, the end of every period the law allows.

    A member given the task at the Knesset's request has 14 days to form a government (art. 10(c)).

    Basic Law: The Government, art. 10 (Constitute Project translation), 2013

  12. 12

    Government sworn in after a confidence vote

    This can happen at any stage of the clock. If a government is formed on the last permitted day, the confidence vote can fall up to official results + 124 days.

    The Speaker sets the government's presentation to the Knesset within seven days of being told it has been formed, and it takes office once the Knesset expresses confidence in it (art. 13).

    Basic Law: The Government, art. 13 (Constitute Project translation), 2013

Or: Knesset dissolved and a new election

At the latest: the last Tuesday no later than official results + 207 days, if the president informs the Speaker on the day the last period ends. A nominee whose government loses the confidence vote also ends that attempt (arts. 9–11).

If every attempt fails, the Knesset is deemed to have decided to disperse, and the election is held on the last Tuesday before 90 days have passed from the president's announcement (art. 11(b)).

Basic Law: The Government, art. 11 (Constitute Project translation), 2013

How the steps work, with the record since 1996: Forming a government. Try the arithmetic yourself: Coalition Builder.